Controversy Surrounding SSNIT Hotel Sale Was Unnecessary- President Akufo-Addo

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has dismissed the controversy surrounding the decision to transfer some of Social Security And National Insurance Trust (SSNIT’s) hotel interests to Rock City Hotels, owned by Agriculture Minister Bryan Acheampong, as unwarranted.

Member of Parliament (MP) Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa and organised labour, was framed as a “distress sale” of profitable assets to a government official.

In response to the backlash, organised labour announced plans to reform its representatives on the SSNIT board.

Speaking at the 12th Quadrennial Delegates Congress of the Trades Union Congress today in the Central Region, President Akufo-Addo stressed that the uproar was needless. 

He pointed to SSNIT’s 2023 financial report, which showed a profit of over GHȼ230 million, as evidence of the state agency’s strong financial performance.

He argued that these results should quell concerns over SSNIT’s decision to divest some non-performing assets. Despite SSNIT’s decision to halt the sale after the protests, the President urged a more measured public discourse, cautioning that inflammatory comments could harm SSNIT’s long-term interests. 

He also called on organised labour to engage more constructively with the government rather than resorting to strikes.

He said: “I take note in particular of the improved performance of SSNIT, which recently announced a surplus of 230 million cedis on its operations. This should be reassuring to organized labour, and perhaps bring into sharper relief the unnecessary controversy that was recently generated by SSNITs efforts to offload non-performing assets in his hotel portfolio. 

“It is my understanding that the transaction that was aborted represented the only occasion in recent history of SSNIT that external investors sought to invest in SSNIT holdings. 

“All of us need to be measured when it comes to making decisions and pronouncements that would affect the long-term interests of pensioners”.

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